A WWW resource for physiologically based modelling in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, toxicology and risk assessment.

To answer the challenges of physiologically based (PB) modelling and to enhance the research efforts in this area, a WWW site (http:/(/)www.capkr.man.ac.uk) was launched at The Centre for Applied Pharmacokinetic Research, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Manchester. The site provides instant access to all the resources (data, methodology and tools), necessary to start a PB modelling study. The contents include PB modelling databases and knowledgebases, software resources, glossaries of terms, symbols and notation, and discussion groups on PB modelling and related topics. The overall aim of the WWW site is to reduce the time and the effort necessary to develop a PB model and to provide a forum for exchange of ideas between the scientists involved in the field. According to our evaluation, using the information available may reduce the duration of a typical PB modelling exercise from at least a couple of months to not more than a couple of weeks. The site's contents is targeted both to scientists with a general interest in pharmacokinetic models, and to researchers undertaking specific PB modelling projects. An additional benefit is the standardization of the procedures, rules, and data-sets, which improves the comparability of the results achieved.